Daddy, oh Daddy...

Camp Drayton was incredibly excited for Trevor's first Father's Day. Sadly, Trev's father passed away many years ago and I know he thinks of his dad particularly on Father's Day so, I wanted to make the day special for him.

First up was getting the right card. Knowing Trevor's love for Winnie the Pooh, I managed to find a Winnie card that looked like it had been written by a child. All Wren-Lee had to do was add her own little message and the card was sorted. (Yes folks, she can write *wink*) 

Next was spoiling him with a lovely lunch. He'd been wanting to go to Beluga for weeks and we managed to get a booking on one of the busiest days of the year. It was really great for us to be out for a meal. Trevor was extremely proud to show off his daughter to fellow patrons and staff and she happily babbled while we enjoyed our food. 

Of course, we had to go wish her GD. Buying a gift for my dad is usually a nightmare. The man literally has everything and the things he wants nobody can afford. Fortunately, I had a rare brilliant gifting idea for my dad and found him a great scarf. I didn't think he'd be all excited about a scarf but he was. Subsequently, he wore it every day this past week and even wears it with his PJs and gown while watching TV. My mom says he's all sentimental about it because the gift is from Wren. Shame, he can be so cute sometimes. 

Every year, my dad delivers what I call the Father's Day Gem. He usually says or does something hilarious and I share it on Facebook or Twitter. This year's one was definitely a classic: As we were leaving my folks' house, he went to say greet to Wren-Lee with this line, "Good-bye you little mothersucker." 

Yup, that's my dad. 

But the following day, we heard that Trev had to go to Jo'burg on business and he would miss Wren-Lee's 14 week shots later in the week. I'm really glad he wasn't there. 

She was tired, miserable and cried bitterly. I had to calm her down after she was weighed and measured and she wasn't happy about being undressed for all that. Obviously the injections were painful and she screamed but calmed down pretty quickly once I had her in my arms. The rest of the day was fine and I let her sleep a bit longer before her last feed so she could be awake when Trev arrived home that night. One would think that a baby her age wouldn't be too bothered if she didn't see her father for 24 hours. Well, Trevor woke her  and her face lit up with the biggest smile I've ever seen when she realised who was holding her. Needless to say, she was awake till much later than usual, playing and babbling to her father. 

As much as he'd deny it, Wren-Lee's got her daddy wrapped around her finger. When he's not promising her ponies, he's telling her how he's going to take her to visit Uncle Sandro and Aunty Nicci in London and then they'll going snowboarding in Switzerland before doing every possible ride at Disneyworld in Orlando. But, even if he never gives her a pony or takes her overseas, I already know that she'll never say he didn't give her all the love in the world and that's what matters most. 

3 month roll over

Oh wow, kiddo is 3 months old already! 

It's like she hit the 12 week mark and became the HD version of herself. The personality is starting to show, she focuses intensely on faces and sounds and its clear she's learning language, she reaches for toys and has discovered that snuggling into my chest or neck is an awesome way to fall asleep. 

My favourite development is her sense of humour. She doesn't laugh at just any old thing and Trevor and I seem to be really funny in her eyes. When she laughs, it comes from her belly first and then she shrieks with delight. The whole thing is funny and the more we laugh at her, the more she laughs at us. 

Her other new trick is the late night babble. Her last feed is somewhere between 20:30 and 21:30 and around this time she feels the need to converse. And she's loud about it too. We've put her to bed once before and she spat out her dummy and babbled so loudly that we just took her out and put her in our bed where she carried on for another half hour. It's as if she must exhaust her "talking quota" for the day and waits until we're tired and we want to go sleep before she unleashes the torrent of gurgles, coos, shrieks and vowel sounds she's devised as her vocabulary. They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Trevor is really not looking forward to the day when the apple starts speaking rapid fire and with enormous verbal volume like the tree he's been listening to for the last decade. 

Her 3 month check-up was good. She only weighs 4kgs but she's reached all her developmental milestones and her paediatrician says she's pretty strong for such a small kid; dynamite in a small package :-) He told me the average baby gains 2.5-3.5kgs between the 3 and 6 month visits. Because she's so small, he's adjusted his weight goal for her and she only has to gain 1.5kgs. He also said the average baby weighs about 6kgs at 3 months. He hopes she weighs that much at 6 months. 

Unfortunately, her visit to the doctor was on a crazy stormy day and we braved heavy rain to be out and about. As we drove from his office, I got to watch something incredibly beautiful: Wren-Lee staring at the rain falling against the car window and slowly falling asleep. There was something about the way the light just softened around her face, how peaceful she was and the rain drops in the background...I will never forget that sight. 

And then came something totally unexpected. She's only just started enjoying being on her tummy and I popped her onto her playgym mat on my bed. She was up for a few minutes and then flopped over to one side. I thought it was the bed or that she couldn't hold herself up anymore. So I put her on her tummy again and she flopped over. I saw that she wasn't falling randomly. She was shifting her weight. I quickly transferred her to the floor and she did it one more time but to the opposite side and it dawned on me that she intentionally rolled over. I went beserk and she just laughed at me. Wren-Lee can officially roll. 

While this is pretty exciting, it also means we have to watch her really carefully from now on. Once babies master rolling from tummy to back, they quickly figure out how to do it from back to tummy and that means they can roll off anything which is dangerous. She'll be spending a lot more time playing under close supervision and watching the world from her rocker chair. 

Shame, it's such a pity all this excitement is going to be followed by her 14 week shots. 

That's not going to be fun. 

Daddy Daycare

It's almost embarrassing that the first time Trevor got to fly solo with Wren-Lee happened when she was 11 weeks old. You'd think that, being her father, this would've occurred much earlier but it just didn't. So, it was about time he had quality time with his daughter.

The other yummy mummies and I decided to have breakfast together. It just so happened that in planning our gathering, we all decided that our husbands should look after their girls. Duane also hadn't looked after Sienna for an extended period of time and Clint was very eager to get Chloe to himself for a few hours even though she's only 2 weeks old.

Carlyn, Natalie and I advised Tanya on her first time expressing milk and I got my bottle ready for Trevor. My beloved baby daddy wasn't very impressed that I was quizzing him on details and he got me out of the house as fast as he could.

Carlyn, Nats, Tanya M, Tanya B and I had a good laugh when we all arrived at the cafe because it was so odd for us to be together without babies. It was a necessary change for all of us though. We needed a break and had a lovely time chatting over coffee, breakfast and cake.

Obviously, all our phones were on the table and we joked about whether or not the guys would cope. We were quite proud that we didn't get any distress calls and Clint and Trevor had no problems with bottle feeding. The girls were quite fine except for one unusual thing: They didn't sleep well. Sienna and Wren-Lee didn't sleep as long as they usually do and Chloe didn't want to sleep at all. Fortunately, it wasn't a problem for anyone.

Clearly, we didn't give the boys the credit they deserve. We underestimated just how capable they are and how well they know their kids.

Trevor has called me out on my lack of trust in his ability to look after Wren-Lee and I've admitted to not trusting him enough. He's happy to spend quality time with her and it's good that he also gets to experience taking care of her without me playing "backseat parent". But now that I know he's quite fine on his own, I think I shall make myself scarce more often.

Daddy Daycare is on duty :-)

Little big person

For someone so small, Wren-Lee has quite a life. The last few weeks have been a good example of just how big this little dinky toy's world is becoming.

She's been to Decorex, the Waterfront, quite a few restaurants, Canal Walk, did a stroll around the block on a sunny day, tagged along to my Pilates class and has been keeping up her social engagements at friends' houses. My personal favourite outing was dinner at Reuben's at the One&Only. Oh yes people, this little miss has been to Cape Town's very own 6 star hotel and the resident eatery owned by SA's favourite celebrity chef.

While her mommy and daddy had lovely steak, lamb shank, red wine and yummy desserts, she got a bottle. Ever the socialite, she had her meal at the table and stayed awake for quite a while enjoying the sights and sounds of the restaurant. Unfortunately, she fell asleep just before Reuben came to join our table but he did get a good look at her.

Continuing with her celebrity run-ins, a few days later we bumped into my friend, Aidan Bennetts (model, TV presenter, design genius and entrepreneur), while we out for lunch with another celeb friend; sports journalist and football guru Julia Stuart. I'm quietly trying to arrange a future romance for Wren with either one of Aidan's nephews. If their uncle is anything to go by, they'll be good lads when they're older. Uncle Aidan, however, still has to be persuaded into this arrangement *laugh*

Anyhoo, Aidan did meet her at Decorex but she was sleeping so he was happy to catch her awake. Julia was so hoping she'd be awake but she slept straight through our lunch date.

We also went to meet little Chloe Morris but both girls were asleep although they have now officially been introduced. Hopefully next weekend, Wren and Sienna will get some time together and we'll see if their communication has progressed. The last time they were together, they actually managed a short conversation in babbling, cooing and brief shouts. It was hilarious and Natalie and I had such a good laugh at their little talk in their nonsensical language.

Finally, kiddo got her 10 week shots. It went pretty well and we got her new measurements. She's 57cm tall and weighs 4kgs. At last!! We hit 4kgs!!! I was so excited I figured she'd fit into her 1-3 month clothing now. Big mistake; it's all still way to big for her. We continue in newborn for a bit longer, some of which is still big enough for her to be in for another month maybe.

So, although my little person is still quite little, she's growing in every way. She's getting taller, a little heavier and has discovered her hands. She laughs at her daddy, moans at her mommy, relaxes in her bath and really enjoys communicating. I can see in her eyes that pretty soon my little baby is going to be my little big person and I can't wait.

Happy Snappy

A little while back we did a photo shoot with Wren-Lee. Despite a bit of a difficult start with kiddo adjusting to the flash and having a camera all up in her grill, she behaved beautifully. In fact, she got so relaxed that she fell asleep for 20 minutes allowing for some beautiful photographs. Enjoy some pics :-)

Learning to let go

At some point I had to accept that Wren-Lee can't be with me all the time. I was simply waiting for the right time and opportunity to be ok with having someone look after her while I was off somewhere else. That opportunity was thrust upon me in the form of Tony Stark *giggle*

I can't say no to Tony Stark.

Childish as it may be, I love me some Iron Man. I love me some Iron Man when he's hanging out with hottie Thor and the yummylicious Captain America. I also like Scarlett Johansson's bum that black leather outfit. Ok, enough ogling, I'll get to the point: There was no way I was going to miss watching The Avengers. At the cinema. With popcorn. And, oh yes, Trevor had to be there too.

So, a week beforehand, I pumped out two extra feeds and mentally prepared myself to leave Wren-Lee with my folks for few hours. It's not that I don't trust my folks. It's that I know they wouldn't let her come home too easily. Anyway, we dropped her off and were quickly told to get on and go watch the movie.

The movie was awesome but it was weird being without the little monkey. I managed to fight the urge to check up on her seeing as my phone's battery was nearly dead. By the time we got back to pick up our little angel, my mom was busy feeding her and my dad was very eager to show us the photographs he'd taken of her on his iPad as well as video of her laughing and talking to the mobile in her camper cot. Speaking of the iPad, Wren has apparently taken to it. My brother took pictures of her enjoying the lullaby apps with the iPad next to her. Yup, never a dull moment with my family.

With the first jab of separation now firmly administered, I've also arranged with my mom-in-law to look after Wren-Lee while I'm at Pilates twice a week.

Back to my parents, they're already pestering me to babysit again. Apparently our trip to the movies was nowhere near long enough. Maybe it's time to bargain with them: They send us for dinner at Reuben's and they can get the baby...sounds like a plan to me :-)

Shout, shout, let it all out...

The monkey has found her voice and it gets used...often.

First, she had a few fussy days. It was almost like she decided that she hadn't cried enough yet in her short time in the world and wanted to catch up. Fortunately, it wasn't anything bad. She just cried for the sake of crying and we did manage to calm her down and get her sleeping eventually.

Then it was her 6 week check-ups and shot. The paediatrician is happy with her growth and development and Wren-Lee's a healthy kiddo. She weighs 3.4kgs, is 53cms tall and her head is 38cm in circumference. She's got a big head! Seriously! The doctor says that while her head is a bit bigger than it should be in relation to her body, it's nothing to worry about. Just means she's a bit smarter :-)
We did have a good chuckle about her measurements. The doctor says she has officially reached the size of the average newborn ha ha ha!

Nobody was looking forward to her immunisation. We were extremely nervous and Trevor came along because we knew it was going to be fairly traumatic for everyone. As if we didn't need any more scaring off, there was baby getting 14 week shots while we waited and she screamed all through it. The 6 week and 14 week immunisations are equally bad according to other moms and even the doctors and nurses. So there we are with our dinky toy baby wondering how bad this is going to be for her.

I stood next to her and focused on her face, letting her hold my finger while the injections were done. I refused to watch the needles go into her legs because I don't even watch the needles go in when I get shots or have blood drawn. Trevor made the mistake of standing behind me and watched all three injections. Of course she cried bitterly especially when the Hepatitis vaccine was given because it burns. But Trev picked her up immediately after and she calmed right down. Our little girl is quite the tough cookie.

We were warned that she'd be a bit sleepy or cranky for the next two days. She totally surprised us by being rather happy. It was then that she decided to start "speaking". She's made little noises before but now she strings the sounds together and has begun communicating in baby babble. If we're quiet long enough, she includes little shouts and exclamations amidst the cooing noises. Wren's also got her own version of laughing. It's a big open mouth smile that she holds for a few seconds. We can't say for certain that she's responding to specific stimuli but she looks so cute when she smiles so who cares.